Thursday, July 12, 2012
Freedom Writers: White Teacher to the Rescue
I read "Freedom Writers: White Teacher to the Rescue" on pages 226-229. I chose this one because I've seen the movie a handful of times and as a teacher in Providence, can relate to it. In case you haven't seen the movie, it is similar to "Dangerous Minds (1995)" with a first year, female, white teacher, Ms. Gruwell (Hillary Swank) teaching a low-performing, mixed race, at-risk, gang-filled, L.A. English classroom in the Post-Rodney King Riot Era. As you might expect, similar to Michelle Phiffer in "Dangerous Minds," Ms. Gruwell shows the non-Caucasians the right path to overcoming their oppression, to rise above the prejudice that apparently has been the main reason for their academic failures to this point in their lives(insert sarcasm here).
The thesis that Chela Delgado seems to be expressing in this article is "Seemingly all education-based movies are centered around individualized solutions to structural problems" (p.226). In other words, issues such as parent absenteeism, low socioeconomic status, social hierarchy, discrimination, gang wars, lack of funding, and so-on can all be solved by "The White Savior" which Delgado refers to as "White Privilege."
Take a look at these two clips below. One is from Freedom Writers and one is from a show called The White Shadow, which ran in the mid-late 1970's. I feel these two visuals are a couple of good examples of what Chela Delgado is getting at in this chapter.
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These tropes are everywhere. Check out the "Ten Lamest White Savior Movies" from Complex: http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/09/the-10-lamest-white-savior-movies/
ReplyDeleteAnd then follow it up with AV Club's "13 Movies Featuring Magical Black Men":
http://www.avclub.com/articles/inventory-13-movies-featuring-magical-black-men,1782/
I am particularly struck by the quote: "individualized solutions to structural problems" (p.226). I think that is what I was trying to get at today in the Brave discussion in naming the resolution between mother-daughter rather than between a resistant girl and her dominant culture. Very interesting...
ReplyDeleteRight, it's almost like, at the surface, it was daughter vs mother, but the underlying battle was each of them vs society's expectations- similar to the discussion in the morning about choosing a pink bike or the barrette. Eleanor knew the potential consequences of Mereda (not sure of spelling) not being the cookie-cutter model of a girl because she had been there and knows the trials and tribulations. There was one line in particular that reminded me of this struggle: When Eleanor was preparing Mereda for the Clan and she refers to the dress with a painful grimace, "It's too tight" and even though Mereda is uncomfortable, Eleanor responds, "No, it's perfect." Here I felt that that spoke to the structural problems in that within the Dominant Culture, it's ok for women to be uncomfortable(restricted) because it is the men that they need to please. Similarly, later when Mereda is still in the tight dress, she bursts through the tightness (symbolic of being controlled)and freely shoots the arrow.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen these movies or the TV show (although I remember it). So how does this "work"? Is the implication that the problem lies within the non-white kids themselves, and they just need somebody to believe in them? (I'm trying to extrapolate from the White Shadow clip.) So it's completely ignoring the larger cultural context?
ReplyDeleteI think To Sir with Love is a sort of interesting counterpoint. It is still a more educated, differently-classed teacher, but the teacher is Black and the students are mixed races but predominantly white. The issues of race are overt. He essentially shows them respect and demands respect from them, and they "graduate" to behaving as if they belong in his social class. I don't think the movie ignores the larger cultural context, but it does place the responsibility for the students' behavior on them. I think I'd have to re-watch and compare to one of these movies/shows to really see the similarities and differences. I'll bet if there are analyses of that movie, Dr. Bogad is aware of them. :)